US Virgin Is - Sarm Joan Lillian Heslop, 41, British, aboard vessel Siren Song, St. John, 7 Mar 2021

[JerseyGirl]

a few days ago, no mask on land:

American boyfriend of missing Sarm Heslop refuses to discuss his girlfriend's disappearance

 

[Ontario Mom]

He was being " watched". He's paranoid

That does make sense, if he knew or suspected he was being watched, to leave the mask on.

 

[Mandalas]

So, the extract suggests it's RB's team who have hired the PI... which may mean the investigation has a different emphasis than if it had been Sarm's. (JMO)

Can anyone get behind the paywall to see the details?

Sorry, yes, you're completely right. I misread this in the early hours before caffeine had kicked in!

 

[LovelyLAM]

Not sure if this has been posted, I haven’t seen it.

Virgin Islands police are taking the search for Sarm Heslop inland | Daily Mail Online

 

[Ontario Mom]

So, the extract suggests it's RB's team who have hired the PI... which may mean the investigation has a different emphasis than if it had been Sarm's. (JMO)

Can anyone get behind the paywall to see the details?

It may have a different emphasis but hopefully the PI is a professional that will turn over any evidence of any criminal activity, if there is any, to the local LE agency, or the FBI.
Despite who hires them, or why.

 

[Curiousobserver]

Not sure if this has been posted, I haven’t seen it.

Virgin Islands police are taking the search for Sarm Heslop inland | Daily Mail Online

We don't know what all the CCTV shows yet, or maybe ever, but I am glad they are considering that her body may be on land. I think they did have dinner where he said and LE knows this already.

Thinking out loud...

Did they come straight home? Do you have a blow-up and kill someone while also piloting a dingy, I don't think so. They may have stopped somewhere. It is equally as likely to me that they walked or rode a bike from near their boat rather than rode the dingy but LE may know that already as well. Any good hiding spots (like that pond) on the way?

Likely not a premeditated crime because there is no financial gain, no reason to plan something nefarious if you're wanting to get rid of your girlfriend just say get lost...

The crime, assuming there was one, was in the heat of the moment and therefore the concealment was likely done in haste (speculating of course).

 

[KING Charles]

Not sure if this has been posted, I haven’t seen it.

Virgin Islands police are taking the search for Sarm Heslop inland | Daily Mail Online

I mentioned yesterday in a post about the National Park and how dense it is.

Yes..just spotted this seems they are really taking a serious and more thorough search now.

Officers have also shifted their focus further inland, suggesting they no longer expect to find Sarm, 41, washed up at the water's edge.


Cops are also searching the north side of St. John, from Salomon Beach to Watermelon Cay, another tiny island, both of which can only be reached via a small boat or by hiking through the Virgin Islands National Park.

 

[SouthPark]

Just wondering if anyone else spotted this in the DM’s latest article - given they tend to copy paste old content into new articles it may have appeared previously, if so apologies for skipping a couple of pages on the thread and missing it!

“Detectives supported by an FBI Task Force Agent based in nearby St. Thomas have obtained 'hours of CCTV' but have not found anything yet to verify Bane's claim that he and Sarm went back to Siren Song together.”

Quite interesting in light of the change of focus for the search?

I wonder what restaurant staff may have seen/heard/picked up on that night and passed to LE?

 

[Midwestmom2019]

Just wondering if anyone else spotted this in the DM’s latest article - given they tend to copy paste old content into new articles it may have appeared previously, if so apologies for skipping a couple of pages on the thread and missing it!

“Detectives supported by an FBI Task Force Agent based in nearby St. Thomas have obtained 'hours of CCTV' but have not found anything yet to verify Bane's claim that he and Sarm went back to Siren Song together.”

Quite interesting in light of the change of focus for the search?

I wonder what restaurant staff may have seen/heard/picked up on that night and passed to LE?

As I recall, a bartender was waiting to be questioned by the FBI before he could speak to anyone about the circumstances of dinner, etc. Maybe he was interviewed, and something caught LE interest. A lady that owns a local restaurant also opined that she expected LE to contact her immediately, bc she would have been close to the final evening. It took five days for LE to come by. The general feeling down there comes from “Island Fever”. It’s a good way to be infected, just a laid back don’t rush me world in much of the Caribbean.
As for DM, the comments brought up an observation I noted from the case of the missing American off one of the cayes in Belize: many times “whites” as the locals refer to expats, come to murder their spouse for insurance or other gain bc they know that the chances of local LE investigating the crime and finding the perp is very slim. None, if the correct palm is greased. It would be interesting to know if any financial gain is involved here. But I believe earlier WS comments discussed that theme and dispensed with the idea.

 

[Curiousobserver]

Just wondering if anyone else spotted this in the DM’s latest article - given they tend to copy paste old content into new articles it may have appeared previously, if so apologies for skipping a couple of pages on the thread and missing it!

“Detectives supported by an FBI Task Force Agent based in nearby St. Thomas have obtained 'hours of CCTV' but have not found anything yet to verify Bane's claim that he and Sarm went back to Siren Song together.”

Quite interesting in light of the change of focus for the search?

I wonder what restaurant staff may have seen/heard/picked up on that night and passed to LE?

Its an important statement- it means they are trying to verify his story; like good investigators would. It also suggests they can't. I 100% would bet that the marina next to the restaurant has cameras that would show if they left when he said they did. I would be surprised if his boat didn't also have cameras btw.

 

[Midwestmom2019]

"....Drug-related violent crime is common in Puerto Rico and also occurs in the USVI....
Overview - Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands Drug Threat Assessment

Thank you Mr. Straight to the Point. I love your down to the real earth point of view. Never worry that I have not considered the funding source of this man’s pride and joy. Although the catamaran is “from” Lake Orion, MI., makes me wonder if there is a Michigan Connection. I’ve seen values of his cat from $500K to $680K or so. So it’s a big purchase or investment. You would think that his finances would come into question if for no other reason than to see if he’s under any financial stress which could trigger anger issues.
Along these same lines, I wonder if alcohol and drugs are not part of the meal service he provides while sailing around on the water. It’s highly competitive, from what I read, so what better way to distinguish your cruise from the next person’s service.
Keep thinking and posting.

 

[Midwestmom2019]

His old mugshot is eerily similar to Maddie McCane’s suspect.

 

[whitelilac]

Regarding the police starting to search on land...I have considered that a perpetrator would dispose of a body on land.. A dinghy, in the middle of the night, could easily reach isolated shorelines with no road access and drag a body up the shore and into some thick vegetation. I am sure there are lots of these hidden spots where nobody goes, on any of the reachable islands. The perpetrator had several hours.

Maybe a better way to hide Sarm rather than dumping into the ocean where she could be found by drones in that clear water, or washed up somewhere. Plus a perpetrator would know exactly where she is rather than deal with the unknown "what if".

I might be completely wrong, but those are my thoughts.

 

[lonetraveler]

Just a few thoughts...

Not letting police search the boat makes me lean towards there is something there. Who would go through all this hassle from the press if they could easily put that issue to bed? I'm not buying that he doesn't trust police - he could have an independent representative present during the search or set up a camera to record it. So I think it's likely they did go back to the boat, UNLESS it's just the dinghy he doesn't want to be searched. Perhaps blood evidence. OR - it's the anchor alarm on the boat that shows no digital record of going off. Her phone was on the boat, suggesting she did get back there.

Not contacting the coast guard when advised to do so by police at around 2:30am, makes me lean towards there was nothing to see there, at that time, in the immediate vicinity of the boat. Absence of evidence is evidence too. So I think it's likely Sarm was taken out to sea and is not on land.

Why would he be comfortable with a land search by police if foul play is involved and he knew she was on land? Without a means to move her body very far on land, she would have been found near the harbour/beach, imo.

Why contact police at 2/2:30am if whatever happened (assuming there was an event) only just happened and there is still time to find her? He doesn't know if police will contact the coast guard, he only found that out after speaking to police.

What's the significance of the anchor alarm? If it had gone off at 2am and that was when you discovered your partner was missing you would be thinking the two were related. Too coincidental for it not to be. Would you a/ phone it in to police and leave the boat to go ashore to meet them, make a record of a missing person, or b/ get in the water, muster help, and search for her, because the anchor's just been moved by something? If this was foul play - I lean towards 2am being the safe time to phone police, because 'the evidence' has been hidden already. There are 4 hours between leaving the restaurant and phoning police - say 1/2 hour on boat, an event precipitating the disappearance, 1 1/2 hours out to sea, 1 1/2 hrs back, 1/2 hour to tidy up in case authorities keep you busy and you don't get another chance and to come up with a reason one is awake at 2am. An alarm. Why not wait until morning to 'discover' an empty bed? Perhaps one thinks the sound of the dinghy (looking for her, but really returning) has been heard by occupants of neighboring boats, and you will have to account for it being seen out just before calling police at 2am.

One more thought about her phone being on the boat - it might have been overlooked during a panic; had it been taken out to sea it might have given a ping to narrow down a search area (do phones ping out at sea?); it might have been considered as too hinky for a person falling off a boat to have had their phone with them?

MOO

BBM: Great thinking. I certainly hope investigators have checked the phone pings out and have taken her phone.

 

[LookingForClues]

BBM: Great thinking. I certainly hope investigators have checked the phone pings out and have taken her phone.

I wonder if she even took her phone to dinner. She could have mistakenly left it behind if they were in a rush to get to dinner. Or maybe she wasn't allowed to bring it with her, if she's with an over-controlling man.

 

[janewall]

I wonder if she even took her phone to dinner. She could have mistakenly left it behind if they were in a rush to get to dinner. Or maybe she wasn't allowed to bring it with her, if she's with an over-controlling man.

Likewise, the phone's presence (as well as that of her wallet and other personal/ID items) on the boat afterward indicates nothing about whether Sarm had those items with her at dinner. Whether she made it back to the Siren Song or not, we know of one person who did, who also was with her at the restaurant.

 

[JuicyLucy]

Not that it necessarily tells us anything about whether she took her phone on this occasion, or whether she came back to the boat with it if she did, but, looking at her social media, she strikes me as one of these people who constantly takes and posts photos of where she's going, what she's eating, etc. So in the ordinary course of things, I'd expect her to have had it with her rather than leaving it on a boat she never returned to. You would think mobile phone data could establish that fairly easily though. It's the point where the phone and Sarm parted company that's harder to know.

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[WildOrchid]

Or she may have had it with her at the restaurant, met her demise on land, and the person building an alibi took her “see-she-came-back-to-the-boat” belongings off of her and brought it all back to the boat himself.

Not that it necessarily tells us anything about whether she took her phone on this occasion, or whether she came back to the boat with it if she did, but, looking at her social media, she strikes me as one of these people who constantly takes and posts photos of where she's going, what she's eating, etc. So in the ordinary course of things, I'd expect her to have had it with her rather than leaving it on a boat she never returned to. You would think mobile phone data could establish that fairly easily though. It's the point where the phone and Sarm parted company that's harder to know.

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[Inthedetails]

Or she may have had it with her at the restaurant, met her demise on land, and the person building an alibi took her “see-she-came-back-to-the-boat” belongings off of her and brought it all back to the boat himself.

Or, whatever happened happened on his boat and the killer took the body, but not her possessions, to land, tripping the anchor alarm upon return. That's the scenario I'm currently considering, especially since the boat owner would rather pay a fine than allow the Coast Guard below deck. Speculation only.

Really am curious about the restaurant footage and timestamp.

jmo

 

[Tortoise]

I'm wondering if there might be any damage in the boats fixtures and fittings, or furnishings, scuffing, staining, or something broken.